Woke up this morning and could hear robins singing. Kind of made my heart sing as well. There were also a couple of robins hanging out in the yard earlier. There’s still some snow in the yard, but it really makes me happy that the robins are back.
And speaking of snow, it’s finally retreating. I can see more green than white. Blaze and I spent time this weekend stomping the snow down as well as digging out some of the trees and bushes that were still trapped. Today I’ll do more of that, possibly do some trimming and weeding whenever I’m on a break.
I have tried to come up with a reasonable list of everything I need to do this week, based strictly on deadlines. It’s still overwhelming.
I’m not good at figuring out what I can do in a day, let alone a week’s worth of time. For the day job, I could always put in more or less hours to get something done. For publishing, there are only so many hours in a day that I can work.
The productivity planner has helped. At least when it comes to focusing on the most important things during a week. I don’t find how it accounts for time to be very useful. Or maybe I just need to be more strict about stating how much time I think something is going to take, and then actually tracking how much time it does take.
However, doing that level of tracking at this point is one thing too many. I need my systems to relieve my stress levels, not add to them.
One of the stressful things I did this morning was to step on the scale and weigh myself for the first time in months. As I’d suspected, given how my clothes are fitting, I’ve gained even more than my usual winter weight. I’ve only been this heavy one other time in my life, back in 2009.
For me, the most effective way to lose weight is to write down everything I eat. Right now, that, too, would be overwhelming. I only have so much focus.
Instead, my goal with stepping on the scale, despite knowing that it would be stressful, was to make me start paying attention to my eating patterns. There are two things I can do that will help me start to lose weight that won’t make me insane. (More insane.)
1. Stop snacking. I snack a lot. Even if they’re good keto snacks, they’re still calories.
2. Move more. It’s finally spring. I can walk and go out into the yard every time I take a break now. Plus, it might FINALLY be time to get back to the gym.
I don’t expect to actually start losing any weight until April or May. As I said, for right now, I’m just starting to pay attention to what I’m eating so that I’ll start to eat less. No grand scheme or plan beyond that. A gentle awareness instead of mindlessly eating.
Now, it’s time to get back to the writing! I started a new Business for Breakfast book yesterday: Understanding Covers for the Professional Publisher. I’ll ask this a few times over the next week – what topics would you like to see covered to see in such a book?
Hope your Monday is going swimmingly!